Julie doesn’t tend to get spiteful. She’ll get annoyed with people who deserve it, but she’s a genuinely good and heroic personality. She’s not going to leave them behind just for being insensitive and bigoted.

I have relatives in all three places and narcisstic sociopaths describe them to a tee. Which after the events of the last family reunion I was forced to attend, explains why I am no longer allowed to attend them. That and the massive watergun fight I led that resulted in everyone over the age of 40, which was most of them, being totally soaking wet. Hey if you stick your nose in the air and say “In my day, we would never have done such a thing.” You have to expect us to try and hit such a large and easy target.

Pretty close to what I said when I made this comment last episode: “Or better yet lean back through and say, “You can let them through too, it is not like they are super villains or anything, they just dress that way.”

Okay, y’all have disproved the ‘never read the comments’ wisdom. The comic is great (‘kind of familiar’ indeed) but y’all’s comments just put hilarious icing on a funny cake. Hearts, flowers & other mushy stuff.

Just throwing an odd thought out, would it be beyond Veles to throw four possible opponents into the Egg, and put himself as a copy of a fifth, so as to observe them ?

We know that this is a magical egg, so being large on the inside isn’t something we question. The passage of time is something else again. It may seem to those on the outside that this all happens instantaneously ? I don’t believe that this was done; I believe that Veles is monitoring what’s going on without being within the egg itself. I am just wondering if this could be happening. Phlogiston never had much personality before entering the egg, and so might be the easiest character to replace.

Notice how Veles talked to the doorman guy through bubbles on the water, and now Phlogiston is talking to Julie through “bubbles in the air”, as it were. If it IS Veles in disguise, he might even EXPECT Julie to recognize the similarly between the two means, and be testing her perceptiveness.

May not necessarily be Veles who talked to the doorman. Probably is, but may not be. Could be their very entry alerted the ‘lord’ of the domain. Who upon realizing he has ‘guests’ informed the doorman to let them in. This of course would make the trials even more interesting in their own way.

As to why Veles didn’t retrieve the eye … perhaps he has a bet going on with the lord of the domain? This of course would prevent him from entering because it would nullify the bet. That would explain why he sent “proxies” in, that and it lets him find someone who can replace Atlas. I have a feeling that his real ‘terms’ for choosing the next Champion is more than just ‘who returns the eye’.

If she’s level-headed enough to recognize the others as narcissistic sociopaths, perhaps she’s smart enough to recognize how being Earth’s Champion on Veles’ leash.. after handing Veles something that a god of mischief wants very, very urgently.. isn’t the cushy gig it sounds to be.

Then again, she did call three narcissistic sociopaths with superpowers on it.. in close proximity.. while trapped in a magic egg.

This is rather my thought. I’m a little iffy on those assuming that everything is going to be as the Koschei originally made it, even; that the fact that this place was the Koschei’s once means that the ultimate goal is the same here as it would be in THAT legend. The assumption that Veles needs the adventurers to get the eye at all (rather than having put it there specifically for this sort of challenge) is a dangerous one. It may be true, and it may prepare one for this particular adventure to know how that task would run, but getting TOO settled on that path is just asking to be thrown a curve ball.

Wjile I don’t think he needs it URGENTLY (he’s a god, he can afford to wait until some other sap comes along if they don’t succeed), and the time limit is just to keep them from dithering over everything, I’m still betting he WANTS it for whatever reason and can’t get it himself.

I doubt we’d see a betrayal like that. Maybe a mad dash at the end by several of them, which would be comical as the sane ones sit back and go, “it’s an obvious trap.”

Backstabbing … nah. Not for characters that will most likely be gone and never heard from, save a cameo, after the story arc is over. Zodon regularly backstabs people, but thats expected, he’s a wannabe evil overlord.

The majority of the genuine backstabbing I’ve seen going on in the series comes from closet evils, one step from straight up evil, power hungry jerks, and those who were duped and/or misguided.

Rainmaker comes to mind there. He was duped into believing the program was the same as it was back when he was part of it. Because of that he enacted a plan for the enemy, all because he believed he was doing the right thing.

Veritas, no argument on that. Zealots are quite often the scariest people to try and deal with. I was just referring to the major ‘types’ of ‘evil characters’ we’ve seen so far.

For Phlogiston to be plotting and scheming would require some major details and major events happening during the “egg” or some hefty flashbacks to explain Why. This could derail the audience’s attention from the story Arc as a whole and focus on the Betrayal rather than Julie and the whole FISS movement.

With few exceptions, if you have someone’s “character” shift all of sudden, you should explain the reasons for them doing so. Again, a Betrayal here just wouldn’t mesh with the feel of the reason they’re inside. A last minute grab for credit, oh yes, I could see that, and kind of expect it. But a straight up Betrayal for the Egg? No.

The one caveat, someone is Mind Controlled near the end to do a Betrayal. That could easily work and be either amusing or interesting, depending on the reactions to what happens. If it was Conjurer or Neuronet who was Mind Controlled … well, that would just be Comedy Gold since they should both have some form of defense against Mind Control.

Actually I do believe that Revenant was referring more to the concept of social invisibility than anything. That and people will often find a reason that make sense to them when there is something ‘off’ about the facts but they’re not sure if its them or if its the facts.

That and I don’t think the idea of Moon Shadow being inside would fit with the flow of the scenes. There are enough personalities floating around to complicate it with another one.

Now Revenant watching from the shadows and taking notes, with a scene later of him talking to Veles, that I could see. But that would be done more as a flashback, so wouldn’t be done Here and Now.

I always thought that commentary was more about peoples’ preconceived notions. Moon Shadow has (per his grossly-inflated reputation) a whole suite of superpowers, even if no-one has a clear idea of just which ones he has. Tyler has none. Therefore, Tyler can’t possibly be Moon Shadow, no matter how similar their toys are.